1 David Yakobson
From: Cynthia Rose <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2024 2:11 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Council Mailbox; Gleam Davis; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis; Lana Negrete; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; David White Cc: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: August 27th Agenda: Support items 10C-11A -- Opposed items 16F-16G Attachments: 2024-08 CC Agenda items- 10C-11A-16F-16G.pdf
EXTERNAL
Please see the attached letter in support of Agenda Items 10C and 11A and in opposition to Agenda Items 16F and 16G.
Cynthia Rose Cris Gutierrez and Anya Baroff
--
Cynthia Rose
Co-Chair
Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance
SaMoSafeStreets.org
I acknowledge with respect and gratitude the Tongva, Kizh, and Chumash Peoples on whose traditional territory I live and work.
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
August 27, 2024
RE: Agenda Items: 10C, 11A, 16F, 16G
Dear Mayor and City Council Members:
Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance and community human rights advocate are writing in support of Agenda Items 10C and 11A and in opposition to Agenda Items 16F and 16G.
Support — Agenda Item 10C:
We support this common sense, ethical and accountable approach to preventing the appearance of bias with the acceptance of gratuities by our public officials. Also of concern is public officials awarding gratuities to special interests.
Support – Agenda item 11A:
Our Santa Monica values and priorities for a safe and clean community and robust economic recovery cannot be realized without a humane approach to provide more affordable homes. It is not only our civic and moral duty but the law. How else could anyone really expect to help solve the affordability and unhoused problems? We ask that you stay the course and continue to thoughtfully and expeditiously move these projects forward and not allow them to be undermined by a few loud and privileged voices. Santa Monica needs your thoughtful and steadfast leadership.
Oppose – Agenda item 16F:
We cannot solve our problems - in fact we create more grave problems - by ignoring the solutions to and needed compassion for those in crisis and in need. It is proven that to get our vulnerable population the help they need - we must meet them where they are. We must not vilify humans in crisis and deny them the very services they must have to survive and lift themselves out of homelessness and addiction. That is the essence of what we hope to live up to in Santa Monica – to be a compassionate and mature community.
Oppose - Agenda item 16G
As expressed in opposition to Agenda Item 16F: We cannot solve our problems - in fact we create more grave problems - by ignoring the solutions to and needed compassion for those in crisis and in need. It is proven that to get our vulnerable population the help they need - we must meet them where they are. We must not vilify humans in crisis and deny them the very services they must have to survive and lift themselves out of homelessness and addiction. That is the essence of what we hope to live up to in Santa Monica – to be a compassionate and mature community. We ALL need to do our part to support those in need – not kick them or the issue down the road or across city lines.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Rose Cris Gutierrez
Co-Chair, Santa Monica Safe Street Alliance Co-Chair, Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance SaMoSafeStreets.org
Community Human Rights Advocate
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
1 David Yakobson
From: Jacob Wasserman <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2024 8:59 PM
To: Council Mailbox; Gleam Davis; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis; Oscar de la Torre; councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 16.F: Against Efforts to Undermine Harm Reduction Programs that Keep Our Parks Safe
EXTERNAL
Dear Santa Monica City Council,
As a Santa Monica resident, parent, and regular park user with my child, I support needle exchange harm reduction programs and thus oppose Item 16.F. Needle exchange saves lives, as supported by reams of scientific evidence. I also do not want to run into needles in the park, and it is for that exact reason that I support needle exchange programs. Please do not fight against these programs that support our city's most vulnerable.
Sincerely,
Jacob Wasserman
11th Street and Washington Avenue
90403
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
1 David Yakobson
From: Dan Charn. <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2024 7:24 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Council Mailbox; [email protected]; David White Subject: Agenda Item 16-F & G
Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Completed
EXTERNAL
JUST DO IT......STAND UP FOR RESIDENTS - STOP MAKING NICE WITH THE COUNTY ..NO MORE GAMES, DEALS OR BRIBES ..
YES TO THIS:
"Eliminate the distribution by the County or any County-affiliated, non County-affiliated, third party, and/or independent private entity, of all drug paraphernalia and equipment, including but not limited to any and all drugs, opioids, needles, syringes, glass pipes, straws, rolling paper, miniature spoons, etc., in our parks, other City-owned spaces and anywhere closer than 1,000 feet away from any school, other educational facility, church, senior center or senior living facility, YMCA/YWCA, or Boys and Girls Clubs. The only exception would be Narcan, which can help revive someone who is unresponsive. The terms of this Resolution shall take effect immediately upon passage." GET CONTROL OF OUR CITY - TAKE IT BACK FROM THE COUNTY..
STOP SELLING US OUT TO THEM - AND TO WAYMO, BITCOIN, COCO AND EVERY PEDDLER THAT COMES TO TOWN..
JUST STOP IT
DANIELLE CHARNEY
Yes I am yelling
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
2 so tired of the terrible inept leadership of this City and the overpaid people who only think about their own coffers and pensions
THINK OF THE RESIDENTS
------------------------------------------------------- Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
1 David Yakobson
From: Noe Mendoza
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2024 7:05 PM
To: Council Mailbox; Phil Brock; Lana Negrete; Gleam Davis; Christine Parra; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis; Oscar de la Torre
Cc: Clerk Mailbox; Santa Monica City Manager's Office; Micah Akerson; Jenny Rogers; David White; Steven Johnson; Andrew Gomez; Lori Brown; John Smith; Ann Bowman; Greg Morena; Maryanne LaGuardia
Subject: Re: Recreation and Parks Commission Letter for Council Meeting 8-27-24 Attachments: Letter Re Recreation & Parks Commission for Council Meeting 8-27-24.pdf Hello,
I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend.
I have attached to this email a letter from the Recreation and Parks Commission to City Council for their meeting on August 27, 2024.
Thank you.
Noe Mendoza
Staff Assistant III
santamonica.gov
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Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401 • (310) 458-8411 • [email protected] santamonica.gov • @cityofsantamonica • @santamonicacity Recreation and Parks Commission
August 26, 2024
Mayor Brock and City Council Members
City of Santa Monica
1685 Main Street,
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Re: Recreation & Parks Commission
In reference to Items 16.F and 16.G
Council Meeting Tuesday, August 27
https://santamonicacityca.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=1413 Esteemed Council Members,
Thank you for Council's continued robust discussion around the County Health Department's "Harm Reduction" programs in Santa Monica, including delivery of needles and "Safe Smoke Materials" by sub-contractors in three of our public parks.
At our Thursday, August 22, meeting of the Recreation & Parks Commission, the members present voted unanimously to once again reaffirm our objective of ending needle distribution at Reed, Tongva and Palisades Park. This is a repeat of past unanimous votes and previous letters to Council.
Additionally, we agreed that this and other paraphernalia hand-outs, such as glass smoking pipes, contribute to a practice of consumption "in place", and that the current program has been observed to support active, open-air drug use in our parks at all hours of the day and night, and in close proximity to children's play areas, community groups and recreation. This is not okay.
The Recreation & Parks Commission, under chair Lori Brown, sent its first letter to Council on the topic in June of 2022, asking specifically to remove what was then thought to be a needle exchange in Reed Park, and to relocate the program to existing brick-and-mortar facilities where related, supportive services are available.
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401 • (310) 458-8411 • [email protected] santamonica.gov • @cityofsantamonica • @santamonicacity As an attachment to the current Item 16.F, you also have the September 14, 2022, letter from Mayor Himmelrich to the County Board of Supervisors asking the County to immediately bring the program indoors and out of our City parks. As the Mayor wrote at the time, "roughly 70% of Santa Monicans are renters, our community relies on the City’s parks and open spaces as they do not have access to private open space."
In the two years since, as details of this furtive program came to be widely understood by our community, the County has not changed course, even as overdose deaths have steadily climbed in Santa Monica, and despite increased public outcry and subsequent Council motions.
Since that time, the Recreation & Parks Commission has continued to engage deeply with this issue as a key component of its advocacy for improved park safety.
On February 15, 2024, the Recreation & Parks Commission hosted Dr. Gary Tsai, who gave an in-person presentation and answered questions about the County’s “Harm Reduction” program. We appreciate the visit, since it was the first time a County spokesperson had appeared to answer questions about needle distribution in a public forum in Santa Monica.
There were several key facts that came to light, which bear repeating:
1. This is not a needle exchange program. There is no one-for-one exchange of needles. By the County's own metrics, many more needles are going into our parks than are coming out of our parks. The risk to children, pets and City staff is unacceptable.
2. There is no site-specific data tracking the success or failure of the program in Santa Monica. Statistics proffered around overdose reversals or service referrals are entirely unsubstantiated, and in multiple meetings, the County has admitted that their metrics are modeled or estimated.
3. The only other park location in ALL of Los Angeles County where the Health Department contracts an open-air distribution of needles and pipes is MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. No other city or neighborhood is being asked to share this burden in their parks in this way.
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401 • (310) 458-8411 • [email protected] santamonica.gov • @cityofsantamonica • @santamonicacity It's timely to mention that in this Sunday's 8/26 Los Angeles Times, columnist Steve Lopez writes about the unmitigated disaster that LA City and County policies at 35-acre MacArthur Park have meant to LA's Westlake neighborhood, the Los Angeles region's second-most dense neighborhood.
This award-winning journalist observed "a zombie-like scene of contorted people gathered in the northwest corner of the park, their bodies rigid from overdoses of fentanyl or other killer drugs."
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-24/column-langers-deliowner-is-starving-for-city-to-clean-up-macarthur-park-and-thinking-of-closing That apocalyptic vision could also regularly describe corners of our three Santa Monica parks, with just 5-acre Reed Park being the beating heart of Santa Monica's most dense neighborhood. A future Santa Monica with 9,000 more apartment units has only this to look forward to?
After the February 15 presentation by Dr. Tsai, there were several encouraging follow-up communications, but further efforts by our group to directly liaise with Dr. Tsai and his team on possible solutions were abruptly shut down in April.
Nevertheless, one or more of our commissioners have attended every public hearing the County has offered on the subject; though the meetings are usually announced at the last minute and with locations far out of our jurisdiction; including Van Nuys and Willowbrook. Questions submitted online mostly go unaddressed.
Questions posed in person are generally stone-walled or condescended to.
County officials seem visibly annoyed that Santa Monica people keep finding out about these meetings and attempt to participate.
Without hope that the County will alter course on their own, we ask once again that our City Council move to enhance our municipal codes and increase enforcement of already existing rules to not only bring an end to the distribution of drug paraphernalia in our parks, but also to actively remove repeat offenders of our city's existing no-smoking, anti-littering and anti-camping codes.
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401 • (310) 458-8411 • [email protected] santamonica.gov • @cityofsantamonica • @santamonicacity As you consider items that seek to address needle and meth pipe distribution in our parks, please consider first and foremost the harm that is being done to our community by failing County policies and inadequate and irregularly enforced City statutes.
As Parks Commissioners, it is our great sadness that Tongva has become a dangerous asylum; a no-go area for residents and tourists alike. Palisades Park, once our proudest park, is now a daily spectacle of flagrant lawlessness. But worst of all, Reed Park … with its proximity to a K-12 school and a senior living facility; and within the park, a children's playground, community meeting rooms and the soon to be reopened Miles Playhouse … Reed Park most of all is failing to meet the needs of its neighbors, and as a magnet for illegal and anti-social behavior, spills over crime and disruption throughout the surrounding residential community.
So lastly, we unfortunately leave you with this picture of someone smoking meth just a few feet away from the door of a community room at Reed Park. This is happening just as a Narcotics Anonymous group is about to start their weeknight meeting. There is no calculus in which folks earnestly trying to shake their addiction must be subjected to this behavior in the name of "Harm Reduction".
Councilmembers, please find agreement amongst yourselves and take action to make our parks and public spaces "safe and clean" for our entire community.
Recreation and Parks Commission
Steven Johnson, Chair
Andrew Gomez, Vice Chair
Ann Bowman
Lori Brown
Maryanne LaGuardia
Greg Morena
John C. Smith
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024
Item 16-F
August 27, 2024